by Brenda Trim
Yeah right, she silently chided, and perhaps Gina just likes drawing in the sand.
Ash took the stick from Emily whose only reaction was to follow him with her gaze. “You seem jumpy. You ready for this?”
Kennex watched Ash grab a bun from a bag unable to completely hide her incredulous expression. How could he be so casual about summoning demons? More importantly, why the hell would he assume she was on board with it?
Oh, I don’t know. Perhaps because you stood by last time and allowed them to use your energy to try and call forth demons then told them to cover their tracks when they failed. Sometimes she hated having a conscience. It had been eating at her for doing nothing for nearly a week now. She blamed that on Jared, as well. If he hadn’t clocked her and made her brain play a game of shake, rattle and roll, perhaps she’d be able to think clearer. About everything.
“For this brat,” Ash explained as he finished squirting spicy mustard along the sizzling pork delicacy. Kennex barely managed to hide her expression with her honest eagerness for the food.
“Definitely. That smells delicious.”
“Enjoy.” Ash chuckled and handed her the bun before heading over to Gina. Kennex watched as their heads bent together. Gina was agitated as she waved her arms around and scowled at Ash who seemed to be trying to calm her down. Or maybe he was having a fractal seizure and Gina was trying to get his attention rather than being upset.
That was reaching, Kennex thought as she recalled reading an article online recently about the symptoms of this type of seizure. Being a supernatural she’d never witnessed any such episodes, but assumed it always involved a human doing the herky-jerky like she’d seen on TV shows.
With a start, Kennex realized she was rationalizing what was happening. She heard her mom tell Amanda, a close friend, that she was rationalizing her mate’s death and when her friend denied the accusation her mom went on to say Amanda was not perceiving the reality of her situation, but rather attempting to make reality fit her emotions. Amanda didn’t want her mate to be gone so she talked as if he was on vacation and returning soon.
Like with Amanda, no matter how many times Kennex told herself Ash was having a fractal seizure and not arguing with Gina about finding a sacrifice for their ritual, it wouldn’t make it true.
Kennex lifted the brat to her mouth and took a big bite. As focused as she was on Ash and Gina, she nearly missed the spell hidden in the food. Startled, she glanced at the sausage while she chewed and swallowed. The tingle as the spell spread from her mouth down her esophagus could have been mistaken for the sting of spicy food if it wasn’t for the numbing chaser. Was it the brat, the bun, or the mustard? Not that it mattered. She couldn’t finish eating.
Turning to Emily, Kennex inched closer to the female by another step. It was impossible to move anymore, but it hid Kennex’s hands from Ash. Surreptitiously, Kennex tossed the uneaten portion of her food into the flames and tried to engage Emily. “That was delicious. Thank you. So, how are you adjusting to San Diego?” At least that’s what Kennex tried to ask the female.
Gina ended her conversation with Ash and stepped outside the group of Phoenixes and put stick to sand again. Ash played chase the female as Gina moved, and it wasn’t until they passed where Kennex was afforded a better view that she saw he was sealing the circle with his blood.
This was different than the last ceremony, but no less frightening to Kennex. This time she wasn’t going to stand by while they sacrificed an innocent. When she went to tell them to stop, all that came out of her mouth was a squeak.
She had enough adrenaline running through her bloodstream to bring back the dead, but she couldn’t move a muscle. The type of spell infused in the food became immediately obvious, as did the intended sacrifices.
The night was quiet but for the scratch of the stick as Gina closed her circle, and the roaring flames of the bonfire. This was completely out of character for any of the council, and it made Kennex wonder if it was possible for the demons to have a stranglehold on the positions of power in their clan. It didn’t make sense why different leaders kept performing the same demonic rituals, despite the death of their predecessors.
Bright, black light flashed from the sand to about thirty feet in the air the second Ash completed his circuit with his blood. It felt like a million fire ants bit down as they crawled over Kennex’s skin, and the circle filled with malevolent energy.
The council chanted in a foreign language while Ash approached Gina with the black blade he’d used to cut his palm. When his hand twisted, Kennex noticed his flesh was not sliced in a straight line but curving lines that created one of the runes on the ground.
Gina grit her teeth as Ash quickly engraved the symbol in her palm. The energy built as each successive member of the council was similarly marked. Kennex was trapped in her mind, unable to stop the runaway train barreling toward her.
Whatever spell they used caged Kennex’s Phoenix, as well. She imagined herself banging against the invisible walls in her mind to no avail. Regret stabbed through her as the certainty that she was going to die shortly registered. There was no coming back from the ashes when that blade was used.
She should have told Ayil about Jared and trusted him with the information. She hated knowing she was likely going to her death without the ability to make the asshole pay for what he’d done to her.
It was nearly impossible for Kennex to breathe by the time Ash finished marking the council. The flames swirled and waved as if a wind blew through the area. Ash grabbed hold of Maribel and turned her, so she faced the fire then opened a gaping red line across her throat, using the demonic weapon.
Red liquid gushed and sprayed the ground in front of Maryann, as well as, the flames. The fire blazed black for a split second before the chanting increased and Fred was grabbed. His throat was cut and gushing his life’s fluid before Kennex could blink.
Images flickered in the flames. Hundreds of large demons with horns on their heads roared before they disappeared. Ash grabbed another clan member and added him to the pile so fast that Kennex couldn’t see who it was.
Blood soaked the dirt with crimson fluid that was pulled to the runes and absorbed. Council members added their blood, making the air pop. Instantly, sparks flew, and the flames turned black. The horde of demons returned, accompanied by a massive angel.
The male had dark hair and eyes with massive black wings that arched behind him into the sky. Kennex glimpsed this gorgeous face briefly last time and knew it was Lucifer. His horned demons stepped out of the flames and surrounded the beach.
Their massive gray bodies and red eyes made Kennex’s heart skip a beat. They were beyond evil and headed straight for her. Certain of her imminent demise, Kennex was surprised when a scream left her throat.
Without thinking, Kennex ducked under the demons as they were preoccupied with their master. No one tried to stop her as she ran like the hounds of Hell were chasing her. It wasn’t that far off the mark, she thought. The demons would follow in a matter of seconds.
She had to get help, or they were all going to die. Problem was there was nothing she and Lexie could do to stop Lucifer or his minions.
Ayil’s face flashed into her mind, stopping her in her tracks. It was too much of a risk to call the warrior and his brothers.
* * *
Chapter 13
“Fucking hell,” Kennex shouted as she kicked up sand and continued running.
There was no easy answer for this one, but she was left with no choice. The enraged roar behind her froze the sweat running down her spine. There was no mistaking the rage in that voice.
No longer on the beach, Kennex could almost pretend nothing happened. The sight and sounds of the demons couldn’t be heard from this distance. Out of breath, she was bent over, resting her hands on her knees while her forehead pressed against her car. Her hand was shaking like a leaf as she fumbled to get her cell from her pocket.
It took a few tries for Kennex to get a g
rip on the cell and tug it from her back pocket. For a terrifying second, she stared blankly at the phone as she wondered if she was making the right call. There was no going back once she involved Ayil and his brothers.
Screams echoed on the wind, cementing her decision. If Lucifer was roaming Earth now, the Angels needed to do something about it, ASAP. Her hands trembled so badly she nearly dropped the phone before she managed to unlock the screen and place the call.
There were no calming breathes to be had as her lungs refused to work. Panting while she shivered from the sweat drying on her skin, Kennex finally managed to dial Ayil.
“Miss me already,” Ayil teased when he answered his phone.
Kennex swallowed and her throat clicked as it had gone completely dry. “Help. I need you to come to the beach now. And, bring your brothers.”
“What beach? What’s happening?” Ayil growled through the phone, every hint of his teasing nature gone.
“Demons. I’m in the parking lot close to where you were surfing the other day. Demons are fucking attacking the clan,” she wailed into the phone.
Strong hands landed on her shoulders and she flinched at the same time she turned her body with her fists flying. Her cell flew from her grip and landed somewhere across the parking lot.
“Stop. It’s me. Show me where the demons are,” Ayil demanded as he let go of her.
Kennex wanted to cringe away from the sword of light he called to his fist. She turned and ran toward the ocean instead.
“What the fuck?” A male voice blurted, but Kennex didn’t stop to find out if it was his brothers or a human that happened to stumble upon them. It wouldn’t take long for the area to become overrun with those big nasty creatures.
“Demons,” Ayil replied, making her assume his brothers or other warrior Angels had arrived.
“There might be hundreds,” she called over her shoulder. “I didn’t stop to count before I took off running.”
“What happened here? Why are demons attacking a beach?” Ayil’s brother, Abraxos demanded a second later when he caught up to her.
“We were having a bonfire and cooking brats when the air suddenly filled with black smoke. The food tasted funny and I couldn’t move at first, but then something happened, and I took off running,” Kennex admitted, sticking as close to the truth as possible. No damn way was she losing her life for the fuckers in charge.
For the first time since everything started her body registered the cold as it seeped into her bones and made her shiver. This night took an awful turn for the worst. She regretted showing up at the meeting.
Her momentum stopped the second they turned the corner and bile rose in her throat. There was so much blood everywhere. How the hell were they going to cover this up?
The scent of blood was as thick as that of brimstone. This was not what Ayil expected to encounter. When his phone rang, he hoped Kennex called because she couldn’t stop thinking about him. That couldn’t have been farther from the truth. The scene they came upon was a colossal fucking nightmare. Still, he was glad she trusted him enough to ask for help. Her Phoenix clan was being massacred.
Next to Ayil, his brothers Abraxos and Araton held their weapons of light at the ready and they charged toward the chaos at the other end of the beach. There were dozens of Behemoth demons in the mix, along with, a few hellhounds, Ayil thought. It was tough to tell given the black flames shooting to the sky.
“Did you guys open a portal?” Ayil snarled at Kennex, only to realize she wasn’t next to them. A quick twist of his melon told him that Kennex was standing several feet behind him with a look of horror on her beautiful face.
He was torn between feeling betrayed and wanting to protect her from harm. She mentioned having a cookout and the food tasting funny. Perhaps she was innocent. More than anything, he wanted to believe she wasn’t involved with demons. He was just starting to like her again.
The mere thought of his initial attraction to Kennex followed by his revulsion and now being back to desire for her was enough to make him question his judgement.
Kennex started shaking her head. “I didn’t do anything except come to the clan meeting and eat spicy sausage. I have no idea what happened. Gina is dead. This shouldn’t be happening.”
Ayil’s gut unclenched despite the sound of Araton engaging demons behind him. Kennex had nothing to do with this demon attack. “Don’t get any closer. You can’t help your friends. In fact, you need to get the fuck out of here right now. Get home to safety. I will find you later.”
Kennex didn’t respond as she stood there shaking her head. A howl echoed through the night, far too close for Ayil’s comfort. By the time Ayil was turning around, his leg was in a vice grip doing a stint as a chew toy.
Kennex screamed behind him and nearly had him ignoring the canines trying to feast an ethereal flesh. The female was going to have to figure her shit out, he thought as he swung his sword of light. There was a clash of energies before the sizzle and burn started. Burning hair combined with rodent ass filled the air, gagging him as he pushed through flesh and bone.
The spray from his weapon as it sailed through the body and air on the upswing splattered black blood across the sand. Fucking hell. This was his favorite beach. Clean-up was going to take a shit-ton of earth Angels. Ayil made a note to make sure Jared wasn’t one of them.
One swift kick and Ayil was tempted to yell goal as the top half of the hellhound flew toward the skirmish up the beach. Running to help his brothers, Ayil couldn’t help but look back to make sure Kennex was okay.
Her golden eyes were wide with fear and her hands hovered over her mouth, clearly stunned by the scene around her.
By the time Ayil got closer he was able to see the demonic runes traced in the sand and the circle that was, at one time, set in blood. There was no mistaking the signs of the ceremony, but Ayil didn’t have time to ferret out the details. He knew with certainty that Kennex wasn’t responsible.
A horrid feeling churned in his gut as he ran for a Behemoth demon descending on a screaming female. It was entirely possible that Ayil and his brothers missed something in their cleansing. If they missed a Phoenix touched by demons, then they’d have a way back into the clan without much effort on their part.
It was possible for an archdemon to plant a seed they could later exploit remotely. If a human was bitten by an archdemon they turned into a mindless minion called skirm, but if a supernatural was exposed to archdemon blood they became ill and didn’t heal as fast, but they also fell under the demon’s control. The bright side was a sup wasn’t entirely mindless.
A human had no way back from skirm whereas a supernatural could banish demon with the right spell or with the help of an angel. They were thorough as they combed through the clan in Arizona. It was difficult to tease out all the scents to determine who was tainted by demon venom.
Ayil extended his wings and took to the air. As soon as he was within striking distance, he used the Behemoth head for putting practice. There was resistance when his sword of light contacted with the thick gray neck, but with an extra push the ethereal energy won and sliced clean through.
Ayil ignored the screams of the female as he flew toward the black flames. Before he was close enough to make out the images within the fire, he was bombarded by such powerful infernal energy that he faltered and fell to the sand. Pain lanced through his shoulder when it hit. Confused as to why the soft granules would cause a severe injury, Ayil levered himself up on his arm. Another round of fucking-hell-my-skin-is-being-flayed off had him gritting his teeth and jumping to his feet.
Ayil yanked his leg and twisted in a circle before landing on his ass. Those fucking runes went deeper than he expected. Shaking his arm, Ayil grabbed the Behemoth demon that clawed through his left wing and tossed it into the flames. Before he managed to retract his wings, wind tainted by the stench of the dead blew Ayil back a step. Was Lucifer here?
Ayil’s eyes took in as much as possible but didn’t see the L
ord of the Underworld. The Rowan sisters promised their spell would keep Lucy tethered to Hell.
“Apparently, that’s not a two-way portal,” Abraxos called out as the creature yelled. Ayil grimaced as it was turned inside out. Black blood poured over the flames as the heartbeat frantically before all the decaying organs fell onto the coals.
“Destroy those runes,” Araton instructed them as he slashed through black flesh.
“Already on it,” Ayil replied as he stabbed steel into a mark and drew across the others near him. He kicked out as a demon tried to attack from behind and sent the beast flying.
Bringing his sword up to hold like a bat, he hit two home runs. The severed skulls flew into the flames as the black disappeared. Orange flared as it consumed the heads. “Fuck me running,” Ayil muttered, “that smells like roadkill on a barbeque.”
A Phoenix couple was huddled in the middle of the melee. The male was battered and bruised while the female barely looked conscious. With a curse, Ayil stabbed his way to their side and grabbed them both.
He couldn’t teleport them both to safety and he couldn’t extend his injured wing yet so he lifted the female into his arms and ordered the male to head toward Kennex then he disappeared.
“Shit,” Kennex cursed and jumped aside when Ayil appeared with the female in his arms. “Is she alive?”
“Yes, but injured badly, I suspect. There was a male with her. He’s heading this way. Call a healer,” Ayil told her before he went back into the fray.
Ayil reappeared on top of a massive Behemoth and sliced one horn from his head. The beast howled and tried to dislodge him, but Ayil held on with one arm around his neck. Another swing of his weapon and black blood burned Ayil’s flesh as it poured over his skin.
Using the demon’s back as a springboard, Ayil kicked into the air and slid the blade through arteries, making the demon slump to the ground. Ayil matched his brothers for speed and dexterity as they fought the remaining creatures.